MS Dhoni, Bumrah, Pandya and others put $11 million in LightFury

Synopsis

Gaming startup LightFury Games has secured $11 million in funding, including investments from Indian cricketers like MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya. The company aims to build a global AAA cricket gaming franchise, with its mobile-first title, eCricket, slated for a 2026 launch.

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Gaming startup LightFury Games has raised $11 million (about Rs 103 crore) in a funding round from Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, MIXI and Times Internet, with strategic backing from Indian cricketers including MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, as it looks to build a global AAA cricket gaming franchise.

Other players who invested in the round include Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan.

Times Internet is the digital arm of The Times of India group, which also publishes this paper.

Founded in 2024 by Karan Shroff, Tina Balachandran, who earlier worked at Unacademy, and Anurag Banerjee, formerly associated with Ubisoft Singapore, the company is positioning itself as an AAA-focused studio aiming to build globally competitive titles from India.

AAA cricket gaming franchise refers to a high-budget video game production.

“For us, this is about more than just launching a game. India has long been a gaming market, but now it is starting to build. We want to show that India can create world-class gaming IP (intellectual property) for global audiences,” Shroff told ET.

Also Read: E-Cricket: Gaming studio Lightfury Games unveils its first title

He added that the rollout will be phased, with more than 150,000 users already signed up for early access.

The company is targeting a 2026 launch for its mobile-first AAA title, eCricket, built on Unreal Engine 5 with physics-led gameplay, real-time decision systems and AI-driven commentary. It has also secured a global roster of more than 600 professional cricketers, including Chris Gayle, Joe Root and Ben Stokes, the startup said in a statement.

“India is a mobile-dominated gaming market. The highest number of users are on mobile, and since this is a real-time multiplayer game, we want as many players online as possible. That scale is best achieved on mobile. Over time, we plan to expand to PC and console, likely around 2027-28,” Shroff said.

The game will be free-to-play, with in-app purchases such as player cards, cosmetic upgrades, stadium enhancements and season passes. The company said there is no real-money gaming element, and users can progress without spending, while optional purchases allow faster progression and customisation.

Dhoni said his investment is aimed at addressing long-standing gaps in cricket gaming. “When LightFury showed me what they were building, I felt they were trying to close that gap. It’s a big undertaking, building something like this out of India for a global audience,” he said.

Bumrah highlighted the focus on detail and authenticity, while Pandya said the game aims to match the scale and intensity of real-world cricket.

“Cricket is pressure, skill and entertainment all at once. Fans want to feel that energy. What excites me about eCricket is that it is not trying to make cricket smaller for gaming. It is trying to make gaming rise to the scale of cricket,” Pandya added.

With cricket commanding an estimated global audience of more than 2.5 billion, LightFury Games is betting on a large, underserved segment within sports gaming. The global gaming market is expected to cross $400 billion in the coming years, while India’s gaming ecosystem is projected to reach $9.89 billion by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate of more than 14%.

The Bengaluru-based, 100-member studio will deploy the capital to complete development of eCricket and build its live operations stack, including post-launch content pipelines.

“We’ve backed LightFury from inception in their mission to build globally relevant gaming IP from India. Building an AAA game takes sustained creative excellence and deep technical expertise,” said Karthik Reddy, cofounder and managing partner at Blume Ventures, adding that the firm expects eCricket to emerge as a category-defining title.

Arjun Vaidya, managing partner at V3 Ventures, said cricket remains one of the world’s largest sports but lacks a “definitive” gaming franchise. “The opportunity lies not just in the size of the market but in the quality of gameplay and player associations LightFury is building,” he said.

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